Johanna Konta suffered heartbreak in the French Open semi-final as she slipped to defeat against Marketa Vondrousova.
However, the British No.1 blew the chance to win both sets before the Czech teenage battled back to win 7-5 7-6.
Konta let a golden chance to win the opening set. Having won the first 10 points of the match, played in a front of a disappointingly sparse crowd on Court Simonne Mathieu, Konta had three set points at 5-3.
But she never recovered from a forehand drive volley blazed horribly wide and long on the first and Vondrousova won four games in a row to take the set 7-5.
Konta desperately needed a good start to the second set and she made it, stopping the run of games against her at five and then breaking for a 2-1 lead.
She found herself in the same position as she had in the opener, serving at 5-4 to take the match to a decider, but again she was unable to overcome the tension.
A double fault handed the break to Vondrousova and moments later Konta was serving to stay in the match.
She at least managed to force a tie-break this time but the tactical surety that she had shown during the rest of the tournament was missing.
That was to take nothing away from her opponent, who played like the more experienced competitor and clinched a place in her first slam final with a typically precise backhand drop shot, winning 7-5 7-6 (2).
